William s



(No Model.)

W.- S.'PIGKETT. PIGKET FENCE.

No. 472,636. 1 Patented Apr. 12,1892.

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UNITED STATES PATE T OF ICE.

'VVILLIAM S. FICKETT, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGrNOR OF ONE-HALF TO NELLIE P. MATTHEWS, OF SAME PLACE.

PICKET FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,636, datedApril 12, 1892.

Application filed August 29, 1891. Serial No. 404,125. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. FICKETT, a

resident of Rochester, in the county of Mon-- roe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picket Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of, the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The object of the invention relates to picket fences and to means for securing wires to the pickets.

Heretofore a clamp has been employed for this purpose, such as described in Patent No. 376,299, granted January 10, 1888, to'A. Fickett. Said patented clamps are made of sheet metal and consist of two slot-tedends joined by a single side, said ends being provided with slots lengthwise thereof and with claws or teeth. The slots in the ends are designed to receive the fence-wire. Said wire is placed against the front of the picket, and the clamp is passed laterally onto the picket in such manner that the slotted ends embrace the wire. The slotted ends of the clamp, provided with teeth, are thereupon bent to embrace the rear angles of the picket, and'the teeth are thereupon forced into the Wood on its back side with suflicient force to partially embed the wire in the'wood on the front to prevent it and the clamp from being moved down by the weight of the wire or of persons climbing over the fence.

My improvement is designed to remedy the following defects: Said prior device can only be applied to the picket laterally, and therefore its ends require to be bent very considerably after they are placed thereon, which bending is inconvenient and slow, as the operation must be performed after the clamp is on the picket and on the wire. Two bendings are required-first, to bring the slotted ends against the edge of the picket, said ends having necessarily been made to flare outwardly in order that the teeth might pass by the edges of the picket when the clamp is first applied thereto, and, secondly, to bend said ends down toward the rear angles of the picket, so that the operation of forcing the teeth into the wood shall cause the ends to closely embrace said angles. My improved device is so formed that it can pass over the ends of the picket and be slipped down onto the wire, and so that the aforesaid bends can be formed in the clamp before it is placed on the picket and while it is unencumbered by it or by the wire, the only operation necessary after it is slipped upon the picket and over the wire being the forcing of the teeth into the wood; and, further, the prior construction, which necessitates the forcing of the wire into the wood of the picket for its propersupport, bends and distorts the pickets and injures the appearance of the fence. This object-ion I avoid by cutting a small transverse kerf or slot in the face of the picket, by sawing or otherwise. Into this slot the wire is forced, said slot being by preference slightly smaller in crosssection than the wire.

An additional advantage of the present construction is that all the clamps of a picket can be secured thereon at one operation. To effect this, each clamp is slipped over the end of the picket and down upon awire previously placed in a slot, and when all are so placed,

the picket and clamps being properly supported by the contact of asuitable bar or anvil, the several clamps can be clinched either all together by means adapted to strike them all simultaneously or they may be secured one by one by suitable pressure or blows.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of two pickets having wire secured thereto by clamps. Fig. 2 is a partial rear elevation of a single picket. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4 4c of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a perspective of a clamp inverted. 9o

Fence-pickets of usual form are denotedby numeral 1,except that on the face of each is made a transverse cut or slot at the point where the two wires are secured thereto. This may be a single wire, or two may be twisted together.

In Fig. 3 is shown a clamp having a side 3 entire and having two ends provided with transverse slots 4 in close proximity to the side 3. The side opposite 3 is not made en- I00 tire, but consists of the two ends 5, each pro vided with teeth 6. The clamp is preferably stamped out of sheet mctahanditis bentinto proper form by any appropriate means before it is put upon a picket.

In making a fence the bottom wire is first laid on or in a kerf 7, and then a clamp is passed over the ends of the picket and slipped down upon the wire. The teeth 6 are then driven or pressed into the wood. These operations force the wire into the kerf without bending the picket. It is preferred to slip the clamp over the top of the picket with the slots 011 the lower side, in which case the clamp will rest upon the wire, as shown in Fig. 3; but it might first be put on withaslot on the upper side, in which case the wire would be subsequently applied. The arran gement illustrated in said tigure is preferable.

My improved clamp can be applied with more case and speed than those which must be applied sidewise to the picket, and the picket is not bent nor the fence distorted by any pressure required to embed the wire in the same.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The clamp of sheet metal, having one side connected by two ends slotted transversely and in close proximity to said side and having toothed ends opposite the side first named, substantially as set forth.

The clamp of sheet metal, having its ends provided with transverse slots 4 in close proximity to its front side and having the toothed ends, in combination with the picket having the transverse kerf and with the wire, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two suhscrih- 4o ing witnesses.

WILLIAM S. FICKET'I.

Witnesses:

J. C. SWIKEHARD, Wit. L. MATTHEWS. 

